


Teetering on the Edge

by SabineElectricHeart (TheLifeAndLiesOfFerns)



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Depression, Dysfunctional Family, Dysfunctional Relationships, F/M, Fights, Power Dynamics, Psychologists & Psychiatrists, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:09:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29783502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLifeAndLiesOfFerns/pseuds/SabineElectricHeart
Summary: Sylvain and Byleth’s relationship is on the rocks. He is committed to make it work, though.
Relationships: Sylvain Jose Gautier/My Unit | Byleth
Kudos: 10





	Teetering on the Edge

Sylvain woke up at an ungodly early hour and rolled over to see Byleth’s sleeping face being highlighted by the dawning sun. He could not sleep anymore, and so decided to open his eyes and get it over with before he feels sick to his stomach in anxiety.

The placid sleeping figure next to him did help to diminish his unease, and he felt fortunate that it did not so happen that she packed a bag overnight and fled back to her parents’ house down the street. By the grace of the Goddess, in a few minutes they woke up next to one another, even if after a heated night.

They fought the previous evening, rather heatedly. Of course, they made up very quickly, and he even managed to persuade some sex out of her, but they fought nonetheless. The arguing they had partaken in the night prior was initiated by Sylvain, but she instantly bit back. She was feisty. He loved that about her.

What he did not love, however, was that they had been fighting much too often lately. They were both under a lot of stress in their last year of college, and it was really taking a heavy toll on them, both emotionally and physically. Not to mention all the circumstances that plagued them.

Byleth’s entire family worked at the university, where they observe very critically her successes and failures. It was stressing for anyone, but more so to the very stoic girl, who had trouble venting her feelings appropriately sometimes. As for Sylvain, he came to Garreg Mach to flee from his overbearing family, but this temporary refuge would soon fade away, as graduation veered ever closer. His current situation was unsustainable, but returning in the Summer to Gautier, for what will be the first time in almost a decade, is absolutely unthinkable.

For many years, ever since Dimitri introduced his new colleague Byleth to their usual drinking group, they had leaned into one another to silence the voices and pressures from the outside. They were each other’s best friend, their own living and breathing, and sometimes tough-loving, diary, if you will.

Yet, at the end of the day, they could only fill the pages up so much before they run out. There was only so much bullshit one can handle before snapping, after all, and the redhead knows he is teetering much too close to that limit, and the root of the problem might just be what throws him over the edge.

Sylvain remembered when him and Byleth started their escapades. They were always tight, ever since that fateful night at the Wilted Rose Inn, the absolute worst bar in the Upper City of Garreg Mach. Sylvain thought she was hot and a great addition to his roster of conquests, she thought he was ridiculous.

Over the course of that night, they talked and discovered more about each other that they liked, and a friendship was born. At the beginning, they were inseparable, attached at the hip, but soon they began to be close in other meanings of the word. They were always making out in closets, sharing sweet kisses in his bedroom, sharing rough kisses in his bedroom.

He remembers twirling her as they drunkenly danced on the deck by the fishing pond on more than one occasion. Getting tipsy and going out on the town was the norm for Sylvain and Byleth those years. It was how they would relax after a long day of classes, whenever their timetables matched.

Oh, how he missed those times. They did not really do that stuff anymore, and it was kind of Sylvain’s fault.

Byleth was adored by everyone, boys and girls alike. Even Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, their sullen Boar Prince himself, was so whipped for her one would think that she hung the stars and the moon for him. Sylvain had always felt this uncontrollable twinge of jealousy whenever she would be around the blond, which, considering they were classmates as International Relations bachelors, was quite often.

Besides, his parents taught him at a young age, Dimitri’s needs and wants are to be privileged over anyone else’s. The Gautier boy fears the day when these prerogatives will finally be enforced and the boar takes away his girlfriend, willingly or not.

In truth, Sylvain honestly thought that his girlfriend could do much better, but he knows perfectly well that the Boar Prince was not that guy, either. Byleth was intelligent, put together, focused and so, so beautiful. She knew what she was doing. She was too good for him.

A few Moons into the relationship, as was to be expected, the redhead began to doubt himself. Doubt his charm, his wit, his confidence. His charm made him too flirtatious with others, his wit and confidence slowly became arrogance. He grew more insecure.

Simply put, Sylvain was struggling. He was still dealing with his family problems, which he did not talk to Byleth about. He knew he should, but all that the Gautiers ever gave him was shame, embarrassment and a legion of leeches ready to pounce. He was not about to let them taint the one good thing he managed to wriggle out of life, regardless of whatever Ingrid had to say on the subject.

The pressure made him spiral into depression. Those tipsy nights dancing on the university grounds turned into Sylvain doing shot after shot of expensive whiskey as he moped around watching the Food Network at his too-large of a TV, while Byleth pursed her lips and tried to shake him off his foul mood.

It did not work, of course, and it often led to fights like the one yesternight, but she did not have any other ideas. She did not know what she could do to bring the old Sylvain back, but Goddess, she wanted so much to be there for him.

Sylvain did not know what to do with himself. He was losing himself under an ocean of anger and hard spirits. Sylvain was not a crier, but man did he cry after a few shots of whiskey. Byleth would embrace him so tightly and kiss his temple as he sobbed on her shoulder. His tears would soak into her shirt.

He knew that she cared so much, she was such a bright force in his life, she was golden, the very sun over their small piece of the world, and Sylvain? He was the moon. He would take over and make the brightness disappear. He hated that her brightness was dimming, and that it was because of him.

Sylvain could tell that Byleth was worried about their relationship. Neither of them was stupid or blind. The writing was on the wall, but despite the pressure it put on both of them, he still could not manage to just come out and say what has been plaguing him for so long, and she does not have the strength to wrestle it out of him any longer. She was scared about if their relationship would be able to pull through this, and he was scared, too. He did not want to lose her. If it so happened that he did, he knew he would have deserved it, but man, did he want to preserve it.

So, since it was so stressing to even be together, they began to avoid each other. His girlfriend spent most of her free time with Mercedes and Annette these days. She seemed so happy whenever she would be with them, and she just did not seem that way around Sylvain anymore. Soon, she would meet another man, some annoying goody-two-shoes from the Botanics Department, with whom she would fall in love and leave him for.

He knew he needed to do something. He could not let himself just lose the only person he ever felt love towards, the only person he ever felt that actually loved him. He does not have much time to salvage whatever was left from the love they shared just a few Moons ago.

It was pretty obvious at this point that he needed to go to a psychologist. He needed to be able to talk out his problems. He needed to be able to release what was bothering him, what was holding him back. He wanted to clear his head, and he wanted to be able to tell Byleth the truth of what lies beneath the surface. He had to tell her about his family, not telling her was physically and psychologically paining him. He did not want to keep secrets from her, but he did not want her to be scared off, either.

Yet, he could rest easy on the knowledge that she was the sun. She would not shy away from him. She would embrace him. She would embrace him for all that he was. Sylvain was not where he came from, he is not his horrid family or stupid last name. What happened with them made him who he is, but in the best possible way. When he finally comes clean to his girlfriend, he is certain that a weight will be lifted off of his shoulders, as well as hers.

It would take some time for the two of them to get back to normal, however, but they will heal together. Byleth loved Sylvain. She wanted to be there for him, be there through whatever he was struggling with. Sylvain loved Byleth. He knew that he was screwing things up, and he wanted to fix whatever he could.

They were not perfect, but nobody really is.


End file.
